Posts Tagged ‘fast food’
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, December 16th, 2011
Image courtesy of photo-dictionary.com
In honor of Burger King’s new style of French fry, they are officially declaring today, December 16, Free Fry Friday.
Normally, I wouldn’t post about anything fast food related, as I believe that Fast Food chains are one of the most major contributing factors to our country’s obesity crisis. Inferior ingredients, lots of empty calories, monster portions (although McDonald’s has done away with the “Supersize”), and low prices all add up to one big problem.
But I’m also not one to turn down free food.
The new fries at Burger King are said to offer restaurant guests a high-quality, perfectly balanced product. A thicker cut of potato gives each bite more fluffy, potato flavor on the inside and crispy, golden-brown deliciousness on the outside. They are also supposed to be lower in sodium.
Who doesn’t like French fries? Decide for yourself.
But then have a salad for dinner- and not one from Burger King!
– Jennie Whistler
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Fast food used to be all about the burger. You’d head out for a quick bite, maybe go to McDonald’s or Wendy’s and grab something quick, easy, and usually greasy or loaded with carbs and calories. Well no more.
Sweet greens, Batman!
Lately there has been a surge of healthy options for people on-the-go. McDonald’s is offering more salad and grilled options; Wendy’s has a slew of healthy(er) side options from their “healthy living” menu; and at almost every restaurant you can now see their nutritional information and, therefore, make better food choices.
But one of the greatest “fast-food” options I’ve seen lately is a little place called Sweetgreen.
Sweetgreen is the answer to the new era of healthy fast-food- and that phrase is no longer an oxymoron. They offer delicious, all-natural salads and refreshing frozen yogurts, complete with local, farm-fresh ingredients. Yes, that’s right- farm-fresh ingredients. Every day they post on a black board the local farms from which they are sourcing their organic produce throughout the seasons.
Local farms, local awesome
You can choose from one of their own creations- like my favorite, the Santorini (chopped romaine with roasted shrimp, feta cheese, grapes, fresh mint, chickpeas; topped with a cucumber basil yogurt dressing & a fresh lemon squeeze.) Or create your own from any of their yummy ingredients. If you do it online, they automatically calculate the nutrition for you as you go so you know exactly what you’re putting in your body.
Not in the mood for salad? Any of their salad creations can be made into a healthy wrap on whole-wheat pita.
Not only are they offering healthy and fast lunch options, but all their proteins are hormone and anti-biotic free, all of their packaging is 100 percent plant based and compostable (this includes their bowls, cutlery and beverage cups) and certain stores even have solar panels built into their roofs!
As if you needed more reasons to dine there, the food is actually extremely good.
I know, I know, you’re thinking, “Come on! At the end of the day, salad is salad.” And you’re right- almost. Sweetgreen offers so many options and different ways to eat it that you’ll be taken aback by how much salad can surprise you. Whether it’s a squeeze of fresh lime to brighten it up or candied walnuts and toasted parmesan chips for that little extra crunch- they find a way to made salad un-boring.
Does this look boring to you??
Visit their website (it’s loaded with cool facts and even a blog!) for more information. Locations in Reston and Ballston.
Here’s a list of the local Virginia farms that provide Sweetgreen with all it’s great produce:
Lois’ Produce (Montross, VA)
Mountain View Farms (Loudoun, VA)
Crown Orchards (Batesville, VA)
Parker Farms (Oak Grove, VA)
… and outside VA (but still pretty close!):
Firefly Farms (Garrett Ct, MD)
Spring Valley Farm & Orchard (Morgan Ct, WV)
Hummingbird Farm (Ridgely, MD)
Bear Mountain Orchards (Aspen, PA)
Godfrey Farms (Suddlersville, MD)
Bell & Evans (Fredericksburg, PA)
– Jennie Whistler
What’s Cooking: Dramatic Shouting Edition
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, July 18th, 2011
- The Week asks: “Healthier fast food: Will kids actually eat it?”
Gut Check answers: No.
- City governments fight back against the tide of food trucks
Everybody loves to get lunch from food trucks these days. And why not? Most of them do funky food well and it’s cheap! Well, not cheap. But good, food truck food definitely can be good. But people will always find a reason to complain: food trucks take money from restaurants, food trucks clog the air with diesel fumes, food trucks take up parking. Faced with a piling mountain of complaints, many local legislatures are doing what they do best to keep food truckers in check: making them miserable. In New York, truckers face more parking tickets; in Seattle, truckers are facing tighter regulations of where they can sell food; in Raleigh, trucks can’t use amplified sound. The article doesn’t mention D.C. and Northern Virginia in the fracas, but no doubt that will change soon. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Don’t buy Organic Water if you see it. A new “organic water” from Wales called Illanllyr claims to be organic because the source rests under an chemical-free, organic field. That still doesn’t make the water organic Why? Because water can’t be organic, as NPR helpfully points out. Water contains no carbon, therefore cannot be organic.. That’s all there is to it. Now stop it.
- Chinese Researchers Create Human-Based Gelatin
So we all know that gelatin is made from cow and pig skin and bones, which is pretty gross in and of itself, but Chinese researchers have looked into a way of making gelatin out of people! PEOPLE! Now, to be fair, these researchers aren’t boiling down the bones of the unfed masses, they’re actually injecting Human DNA into a strain of yeast that will create a modified gelatin, which, if you ignore the whole cannabilism debate, is a whole lot more appetizing than beef bone collagen.
- Kris King
Posted by ryan / Thursday, May 19th, 2011
Eat A Vegetable Already!
The FDA wants Americans to make healthier choices. In a recent press conference, the deputy commissioner berated all the stupid fat people of the country for their eating habits. “Just buy a bag a carrots, and eat them like you would normally devour a pack of hot dogs,” he said. “If you usually stand in front of the fridge, stuffing them into your fat face cold. Do that with a carrot instead. It’s just that simple.”
More tips and tricks for combating obesity can be found at the FDA website. Among them are the evils of melted cheese with every meal, it’s called water people, bacon is not a food group, and remembering to breath between bites.
America’s Waitresses: Are They Hitting On You?
Millions of Americans eat at restaurants every day, where seemingly nice servers charm and enchant customers with playful small talk and their warm smiles. Are they truly this nice, or are they using their feminine wiles to manipulate the customer into leaving a larger tip?
Investigative reports have been inconclusive so far. According to body language specialists, their order-taking posture is indicative of mutual attraction. Other customers are given the same treatment however. Even those men who weren’t particularly good looking had the ability to stall them for up to thirty seconds, which adds to the confusion.
Fast Food Patrons No Longer Trusted to Dispense Own Ketchup
The fast food industry is addressing a growing problem in an effort to cut wasteful expenses. Americans’ utter lack of self-restraint has forced officials to impose a strict two-packet policy on customers. Overestimating the maturity level of the public was part of the problem.
Beginning next week, all fast food restaurants will begin withholding condiments. If additional ketchup is desired, a three-page request form must be completed beforehand. You must have two forms of valid identification, social security number, and a signature from a third-party witness. The manager on duty will then evaluate if your claim is necessary. Only then will you receive a condiment voucher. Requesting barbecue sauce for your fries will result in you being escorted from the premises immediately.
Reaction to this new policy has been overwhelmingly negative thus far. Most people are protesting by eating lunch at home.
Arby’s is still allowing their brave customers to freely operate the ‘horsey sauce’ dispenser though, as nobody has touched it in years.
www.theonion.com- “The Finest Source in News”
Rewritten for Gut Check by,
-Ryan Robertson
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Back when I was in undergrad some of my friends and I listened to Ugly Duckling, a hip hop group based out of California.
I found their second album, “Taste the Secret,” in my CD collection the other day and decided to investigate it a little further. Turns out Ugly Duckling created a website to accompany the album. Imagine if this place actually existed!
The CD was about a made up fast food chain, Meat Shake, that only sold foods containing meat (i.e. meat shakes as opposed to a milk shake). The album plays on the battle between carnivores and vegetarians.
Here’s a listen to “MeatShake.”
Video: Youtube
Coincidentally, a musical called Meat Shake also focuses on the love-hate relationship of vegetarians and meat-lovers. I’m not sure what happened to the film, but it seems like a cross between Little Shop of Horrors and Romeo and Juliet.
The plot revolves around a young girl who is the daughter of the local Veggie Soda Shop and receives meat baskets from a secret admirer—the boy who works at the meatshop on the meat-eating side of town.
Video: Youtube
Mmmm. Meatshakes.
–Aisha Salazar
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
There are a few people that are greatly affected by the death of Taco Bell founder Glen W. Bell, Jr., who passed away Monday, January 18 at the age of 86. Bell left an impact on the restaurant world as one of the leading founders of fast food, particularly Mexican fast food. If you don’t think so, check the numbers.
More than 36.8 million consumers eat Taco Bell each week. Within the United States alone, more than 2 billion tacos and 1 billion burritos are served each year.
(Source: YouTube)
Good thing Taco Bell has a fresco menu. Though the drive-thru diet is questionable, it does offer healthier foods for those on the run. Jared may have some competition.
When almost a third of the US population is obese, perhaps instead of eating a taco in honor of Bell, try following Bell’s “Recipes for Success.”
Of course, if you’re strapped for cash it may just be all about the Roosevelts.
(Source: YouTube)
–Aisha Salazar
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Jerry Duppa hurts.
The self-proclaimed “preeminent fast food journalist” has, until recently, dedicated himself to passing judgment on the lost children of everyday dining–America’s burgeoning network of on-the-go eateries–from the relative comfort of his trusty Volvo.
But, it would seem he’s carried his penchant for carry-out–that driving force that compels Duppa to gorge on “something that sounds hideous … but has a tinge of ‘I-wonder-what-that-would-taste-like?’ allure to it,” according to director Matt Bardocz–just a bit too far.
Behold the ennui hanging over faux food critic Duppa’s head, presented documentary-style in The Fast Foodie.
Bardocz said he was already kicking around the idea of developing an internet film project when, one day, he caught friend and actor Hannes Phinney (he plays the angst-ridden protagonist with all the bitterness of Lewis Black, sans all the wild gesticulations) ad-libbing some jabs at an Arby’s commercial on the radio.
The eight-part series is their collaborative love-child, an exploration of the gauzy intersection between food and memory (see Duppa’s romantic ruminations about butter burgers, or his plea for more responsible bacon deployment)–or, what’s left of it when reality comes crashing down around you.
The most haunting installment so far would have to be the episode simply titled, “The McRib”:
(Video: FunnyorDie)
While Duppa’s passion for the seasonal sandwich borders on the delusional (“It’s a boneless rib sandwich. It just solves problems!”), the real “meat” of the exchange happens as the joy of snarfing down skeletally-challenged swine dissipates quicker than the chemically-induced euphoria fast food muckraker Morgan Spurlock encountered during his early forays into Super-sized dining.
“I’m trying to provide a sense of humor for the online food contingent,” Bardocz says of the food-as-pathos production.
For now, new episodes of The Fast Foodie will continue debuting every Monday on FoD. And Bardocz hopes to expand Duppa’s growing Facebook following via more telling blog posts and interactive events (including a “Meat N Greet” at the Hollywood In-N-Out Burger tomorrow night).
Meanwhile, Bardocz hopes to develop more multidimensional, food-related programming in the near future, noting that he’s got his sights set on Food Network spin-off, Food2 next.
–Warren
Gag Me with a Flame-Broiled Spoon
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, June 15th, 2009
(Image: Daily Mail)
This type of stuff just has to stop…
–Warren